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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

When slow-moving planets (or other slow-moving bodies for that matter, such as KBOs) enter a new sign, it takes awhile for them to get their footing and establish the core paradigm that will play out during the era they are transiting that sign. Between 0 and 5 degrees, the planet is still laying the ground work and "introduction" for the drama yet to unfold in later degrees and years of the transit. With a lot of astrological attention currently focused on the seven partile Uranus-Pluto squares over the next few years, along with Saturn and Pluto's mutual reception beginning in October (remember, Pluto is not a planet, but does rule Scorpio in modern astrology), Neptune's transit through its home sign of Pisces can disappear into the background and therefore be seriously overlooked. Big mistake. It's front-and-center by hiding in plain sight in the intense outer solar system drama currently unfolding. Neptune in Pisces is pointing to the core issue that needs to be addressed in order to RESOLVE the turmoil of its more malefic neighbors on either side. Namely:

“Imagine the problem is not physical. Imagine the problem has never been physical, that it is not biodiversity, it is not the ozone layer, it is not the greenhouse effect, the whales, the old-growth forest, the loss of jobs, the crack in the ghetto, the abortions, the tongue in the mouth, the disease stalking everywhere as love goes on unconcerned.Imagine the problem is not some syndrome of our society that can be solved by commissions or laws or a redistribution of what we call wealth. Imagine that it goes deeper, right to the core of what we call our civilization and that no one outside of ourselves can effect real change, that our civilization, our government are sick and that we are mentally ill and spiritually dead — that all our issues are crises are symptoms of this deeper sickness.The problem is that we cannot imagine a future where we possess less but are more.”

Transiting Neptune in Pisces is beginning its Orcus opposition in the U.S. Sibly chart (below) in the 3rd-9th house axis. This will ultimately form a grand cross with the U.S. natal Orcus-Uranus-Haumea T-square, which shows that the themes of Uranus-Pluto (economic exploitation, oppression, and plutocracy) aren't even new or recent, but INHERENT in the lifeblood of the country with roots in the days of slavery! In cadent houses, they swirl like a mist in the background until harsh transits blow an ill wind through the country's history. Or present and future.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Forewarned
is forearmed through the changes and upheaval ahead. In some ways,
both personally and on a larger scale, it won't be as bad as
originally thought. And in other ways, it will be far worse than anyone could have imagined. It's a wild swing of extremes. But there's no
need to fear; as old-time radio personality Paul Harvey once noted,
"In times like these, it is good to remember that there have
always been times like these."

At its
simplest, the Uranus-Pluto square is economic havoc—plutocracy,
debt, market rigging and crashes—and the battle against them, as
well as the struggle to survive and bounce back from it all at the
individual level. It's a rude awakening and living life on the edge
with no going back to the old ways of life. Ever. Not even after
2015. It's an enforced march forward into the unknown, and not always
for the better.

Since
you won't be free from the cyclone around you (no matter how rich you
are, or how many cans of food you have stored), you'll have to find a
way to find peace within the storm via whatever your preferred method
of handling turmoil (meditation, heavy drugs, etc.). Below are ten
keys to understand, cope with, and eventually prevail over the
Uranus-Pluto square.

1) Realize that you are not in total control. Circumstances will often dictate the moment
and the response. This is especially true financially. Expect
permanent, long-term changes in your life that are not comfortable or
necessarily for the better. This can range from foreclosure, job
loss, etc., to loss of earning power, increased debt or bankruptcy,
lower standards of living and relationship endings.

You
don’t need an astrological chart and an ephemeris to know you’re
dancing with Pluto. Here’s a short list of Pluto
Symptoms:

IF
YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IT MUST BE PLUTO.

1. How
DARE they!

2. It’s
Not Fair. It’s Not RIGHT. I WILL make them stop.

3. Obsessed.
You can’t get this issue out of your mind.

4. They
WON’T get away with this.

5. 40
jillion get-even fantasies.

6. 30
jillion get-it-back-to-how-it-used-to-be fantasies.

7. Boiling
blood each time you think about it (which is all the time).

8. Freezing
blood when you think there’s nothing you can do.

9. How
DARE they! …

So
expect to feel like that a lot for a few years. And just know it's
perfectly normal.

3) Uranus in Aries is the battle against compliance, as astrologer Michael Lutin has so aptly put it.
You want to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, but
Pluto's in the way compounding the obstacles as fast as your
frustration level can rise. Interestingly, Lutin calls attention to
using the midpoint of the square (a.k.a. a semisquare, currently 23
degrees Aquarius) as the outlet for the square. So wherever you have
23 Aquarius natally, that's a refuge point from the tension. Unless
of course, it triggers other parts of the chart harshly (e.g., Moon
23 Scorpio, a square which makes the stress unbearably intense and
personal, such as a relationship betrayal.).

4) Activations by transit. Every time a planet travels through a
cardinal sign over the next few years, the Uranus-Pluto square will activate a
flash point, both personally (when the Moon hits it four times a
month) and in the world (when planets transit). A cardinal grand
cross with the Sun and Moon joining the Uranus-Pluto square in late June dialed up
the anxiety for everyone, as a harbinger for the upcoming
Mars-Uranus-Pluto T-square over the coming week. Expect a jolt in
late September when planets transit Libra to form another T-square, with the outlet leg again in Cancer. Power struggles will really
intensify at the end of the year when planets transiting Capricorn
line up behind Pluto, and with extra zing because Saturn will be
mutually recepting Pluto when it begins its Scorpio transit.

5) At
the personal level, the Uranus-Pluto square will force you to make
changes you would normally eschew because they are outside of your
conditioned comfort zone.

6) Expect loss. Pluto in Capricorn disposits to Saturn in its final
months of Libra. It's about endings, not new beginnings. Then, when
Saturn ingresses into Scorpio in October, it will both mutually
recept AND sextile Pluto. But there's a catch: Saturn will still be
via combust for awhile. So there will be enforced, constructive changes, but at a stressful cost.

7) Face
the fact that things cannot continue as they were. There's no going
back. The changes are long-term and permanent. Grieve and move on;
don't wallow.

9) The
ray of hope, the saving grace throughout it all, is Neptune in Pisces.
At home, in rulership, it's above it all, sextiling Pluto and
semi-sextiling Uranus. Hold on to your dreams and keep the faith in
spite of the turmoil, and when you're down and out, Neptune will send
a ray of light out of nowhere to give you hope. It can also bring an
outright miracle, or an enormous desire to escape, depending on other
factors in your natal chart. Know that there will be days of peace
sandwiched in between the strife.

10) Look
back on your life pre-Pluto in Capricorn; before January 2008, and
after. How is your life better, and how is it worse? What did you
have to part with that you thought you couldn't live without, and are
now glad to be rid of? Remember the pain and anguish?

Now imagine that on a larger, worldwide scale for awhile and you'll have the essence of the transit.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

With the
perpetually lousy U.S. economy, employment horary and event charts
are far outnumbering relationship charts, which usually grab the
lead. In the recent case study below, a job interview event chart
with a twist reflects the very active current transits, particularly
of significators changing direction.

The job
was for a travel agent position with a financial services firm. The
chart is radical with Venus, the querent's ruler, conjunct Jupiter at
home in the 9th house of travel.

In this
case, you don't have to look very deep for the obvious outcome. The
following items stand out immediately in the chart:

1) Early
cardinal angles. Action and activity are premature.

2) Venus, the querent's ruler, is intercepted, retrograde and stalled,
getting ready to station direct, and therefore won't make the
conjunction to Jupiter in the 9th. Additionally, the South Node is on
the Venus-Jupiter midpoint.

3) Makemake in separating conjunction from the ASC and in partile
conjunction to Mars in the twelfth. The querent has been on the job
sidelines in repose (12th/Makemake) for four years. Unemployment is
affirmed by Moon in 12th as ruler of MC.

4) Sun
in the 10th house disposits to the Moon and is in an applying
T-square to Uranus-Pluto, with the outlet leg in the 1st house.

5) Saturn in the 1st house just stationed direct a few hours prior to
the time of the question, and is conjunct Haumea. The querent has non
job-related responsibilities in his personal life (1st house) that
are distracting him and moving him in a different direction entirely
(Haumea).

So if
that wasn't enough to tell you this job wasn't happening for the
querent, the kicker is Mercury at the dead degree of Cancer, and
about to drop into its fall in Leo. Moon and Venus, rulers of the
querent (1st house) and the job (MC), both disposit to Mercury.

So what
was the outcome? Venus' station is the dead giveaway. The querent
changed his mind about the position to focus on taking care of some personal business causing strife in his life (Moon-Mars in the 12th) and called to cancel the
interview (Pluto in 4th--elimination from consideration). The querent also didn't like the long commute required (Pluto as ruler of the 3rd quincunx
Venus/the querent) with gas prices near $4 a gallon. Moon's last Ptolemaic aspect as a conjunction to
Mars, the ruler of the 7th house of other candidates, shows someone
else entirely was obviously chosen for the position.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In another event chart, this time for a car rental, note that when the ASC is a moving target, so are the querent's circumstances. In this case, the querent needed to rent a minivan to move some cargo from storage in one state to a neighboring state. The event chart is based on the rental agreement start time of 8 a.m. to pick up the vehicle:

Note the dead degree ASC, and Mercury square to Saturn, with Mercury in the 12th house ruling the 3rd house of vehicles. The rental agent took the querent to a base-model, low-end minivan with "Store and Go" seats. The querent didn't like that the van was so basic, wasn't very clean, and had New Jersey license plates on it, but didn't say anything to the rental agent. As the agent was putting the seats in "Store and Go" mode, the last seat refused to store and was clearly broken. Minutes passed, the chart progressed, and the agent finally had no choice but to label the minivan "defective" (Saturn retrograde) and give the querent another vehicle entirely. So look at the event chart for the time of the new vehicle assignment:

The only other minivan available on the lot that would meet the querent's rental agreement requirements was a deluxe-model with DVD players, leather seats, clean interior, seats that stored without a problem, and more gizmos, bells and whistles in it than the querent could possibly use. Not to mention his destination state's license plates, which wouldn't attract attention as a rental. The querent was assigned the deluxe vehicle at no extra charge. Leo rising "flash" in a vehicle (Sun in Gemini) indeed!